The Ron White Show

David Letterman knows how to get on Betty White’s good side: break out the photos from her youth over some perfectly chilled Grey Goose. I think it was all going pretty well until he said she reminded him of his mother. (Note to dudes: never tell a lady she reminds you of your mom.)
Ashton Kutcher swears he knew the Chicago Bears (DAH BEARS) were going to make the playoffs this year because Brian Urlacher told him so. He also tells Jay about partying on a James Bond villain boat and dancing with George Lucas. Ah, the trials of being famous for being so damn pretty.
Aubrey Plaza puts the moves on Jay Leno and explains how she became King of the Elves and turned her little sister evil. I’m pretty sure that on some level she IS her character from Parks and Recreation in real life, which means she’s awesome.
Jimmy Fallon takes MySpace down another few pegs (from rock bottom to the fossilized dinosaur bones underneath it) because clearly being the most desperate forgotten social networking site wasn’t bad enough. Oh yeah, and he tells us a little bit about the new American Idol.
Randy Jackson shows Jimmy Kimmel what a manly bedazzled jacket looks like.

When it comes to SNL, I think I’ve finally learned that lowering expectations for each episode is the way to go. Instead of watching every Saturday, hoping for a grand comedic revelation, why don’t we call it what it is, a chance for a few laughs and an opportunity to see some of our favorite actors make fun of themselves by goofing around in different skits. Perhaps it’s this new mindset I’ve adopted, or maybe the show is actually getting better, but this week’s Jeff Bridges-hosted episode was actually “pretty cool” as Vanessa Bayer’s Miley Cyrus would say. Bridges, who’s back for his second hosting gig (the first was back in the 80s), opened with a monologue about his most beloved character, The Dude, and gave us all a little taste of the White Russian slugging, rug loving character himself. He finished up with a Christmas song with Cookie Monster to spread a little holiday spirit and answer his bid to get on the comedy show. It set the tone for a pretty “cute” episode, which is alright because at least there were a few mild chuckles to be had.
Of course, the bit you’re probably already hearing about at the water cooler is the digital short. It’s no “Dick in a Box,” but the Lonely Island’s “I Just Had Sex” features Akon and cameos from John McEnroe, Blake Lively, and Jessica Alba and fills that void we’ve been feeling since the last good Lonely Island video hit the small screen. Plus, it captures that wonderful post-coital rush that makes you feel like you could shout about your latest conquest from the rooftops – and that’s exactly what Samberg and crew do.
We also got another installment of Bill Hader’s Julian Assange and his scene-hijacking hijinks, this time breaking in to rain all over Mark Zuckerberg’s “Person of the Year” parade. This skit should be getting old, but the writers seem to hit the nail on the head again and again with this timely spoof.
In another welcome recurring skit, Vanessa Bayer treats us to another episode of The Miley Cyrus Show, taking on Miley’s recent drug “troubles.” This also gave us our first dose of Bridges as he did his best Nick Nolte. The whole point of the skit was to show the mild nature of Miley’s drug problem against the backdrop of Nolte’s severe issues, so I would have liked to see a little more from Bridges, but he did the best he could with the tiny bit of material they handed him.
Bridges also lent his impression skills to a skit about Larry King’s anticlimactic last show, playing Dog the Bounty Hunter and proving to be the only interesting part of a bit about how boring Larry King is. Yawn.
Weekend Update was particularly lackluster this time around, and even included a weather segment featuring a particularly awful impression of Brad Pitt from featured cast member, Taran Killam, who seemed to think he was imitating a Southern Keanu R?>eeves?> instead. I won’t bother sharing that clip, but instead share a clip of my favorite Weekend Update correspondent, Stefan, and he tries to insert his own lyrics into a Christmas song with SNL versions of Gov. David Patterson and Snooki.
Bridges made only a few appearances in this last episode before Christmas, and while they weren’t all knee-slappers, they proved that he’s infinitely enjoyable to watch. He put his famous good nature to use, bringing back Punk’d his own way. Jeff’d treats Bridges’ friends to a few mild confusions, and he swoops in to tell them it’s all okay before they can even get upset. It was a chuckle worthy little skit that just makes me wish I lived next door to Bridges because he seems like such a cool guy.
Remember those crazy faces Bridges made in his strange dreams in The Big Lebowski? Do you miss that wacky hilarity? Well, then the last sketch of the night should make you good and happy, because The Dude finally came out of his shell as a gay gift-wrapping pioneer in the Wild West. (Yes, you read that right.) That’s about as good of an explanation as I can give, so enjoy.
Bridges also made a quick appearance as the Rabbi in the show’s Hanukkah version of It’s a Wonderful Life, but the sketch as a whole was pretty awful, relying on tired old stereotypes and using Nasim Pedrad as an incredibly annoying child…again. (Amy Poehler, I miss you.)
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S1:E8 Well pigskin wifey fans, we’ve made it. As of the end of last night’s episode, we’ve reached the end of the season. So what have we learned? Everything can be solved with Botox, right Amanda? We now know that someone will always find a reason to fight with Pilar and that the lightning rod of a woman apparently went all Benjamin Button and aged backwards (that’s right, she wasn’t lying about her age, she just became a storybook character, NBD). Okay, so we didn’t really learn anything, but we had fun right? A little fun? A few laughs? Okay, we sustained partial hearing loss and we’ve got some extra lines on our foreheads from all that judgmental and disappointed brow furrowing.
The final episode didn’t improve on this season-long pattern, but they changed locations – woo! The ladies find themselves in New York (because they needed something to make the finale epic besides yet another Pilar showdown, which is so October).
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The ladies are enjoying their first night and already Chanita is stirring it up. Everyone’s trying to play nice, being friendly with Pilar, who managed to show up for the New York trip but not for Dawn’s vow renewal last week. Pilar, who’s always trying to show how cosmopolitan she is, is falling asleep at the rooftop bar. (She’d better keep her game up though, with the rate that Chanita is chugging down those White Russians. Who does she think she is, The Dude?) Of course, Miss Drama Queen herself, Dawn, tells Chanita to check her anger and have fun – are you serious? STFU, Miss Hypocrite.
The ladies get hooked up to go shopping in an exclusive, buyer-only showroom and it’s only a matter of time before the claws come out. Who’s being the bigger person now? Pilar buys a hideous silver mermaid dress that looks like something off a Destiny’s Child reject rack while the other ladies wait impatiently in the limo, and take the opportunity to bash Pilar for her lack of class – right because Amanda, Chanita and Dawn are just the epitome of style and grace.
That night, Amanda decides to stay in because all that “New York City walking” is making her knee hurt – what walking? Didn’t we just see you all getting chauffeured around in a limo? I know you all weren’t schlepping around on the subway. Pilar decides she’s staying in too, of course this is what sets the ladies off – no one cares that Amanda has some BS excuse for staying in. They hop in their knee-busting limo and head out on the town with another football wifey whose ball player was shipped away from Dallas to play for the Jets. Of course, Dawn and Chanita are certain that Pilar has some sinister plan to go to a swanky party instead of hanging out with the rest of them. What happened to “this anger is poisoning your mind?” I guess that doesn’t matter when she gets to drinking. Their visiting football wife smoothes it all over with a suggestion that will only make everything worse: Patron shots! Oh geez. So why does Dawn care so much anyway? All night all she can talk about is how much more fun it is without her. If it’s fun without her than why the hell are you complaining that she’s gone? If she’s such a “bitch” shouldn’t you be happy she’s not around? (Because then there wouldn't be a show.)
The next night, they head out for a swanky dinner of … sliders – really? You’re in the city of amazing food around every corner and that’s what you’re munching on? Pilar’s not there for the "fancy" meal, so of course Dawn has to point it out and go on and on about what a great night they had without her – hello, what about Amanda? She didn’t go either, are you trying to make her feel awful? Out of the blue, Chanita brings up the fact that Dawn’s son is autistic, so she gives everyone a symbol of the national charity. This little nice (and awkwardly out of place) moment only lasts for a second until Melani and Pilar have the audacity to show up for dinner – wait, what did they do wrong again?
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The ladies decide they won’t stick around while Melani and Pilar finish their belated dinners, and of course this brings up the same old argument again. I just feel bad for the other people trying to eat in the restaurant at this poit. Chanita says Pilar always ruins everything – harsh much? So she didn’t come to some event – who cares? Like any normal person would in the face of that much hate, Pilar leaves with tears in her eyes. She may be cold and have her head in the clouds, but Chanita could have some freaking tact for once. Melani defends Pilar and this sets off Dawn who draws some crazy line between what Melani says and disrespect of her profession. Now everyone’s crying and standing in front of the restaurant like angsty 16 year olds.
Melani apologizes for offending Dawn - what?! Of course once that apology gets wrapped up, Chanita starts yelling and saying she’s done with everyone. Even the other crazy ladies are over it, and now everyone’s making dramatic exits. No one is friends with anyone else anymore, and it doesn’t look like a resolution is anywhere in sight. What a way to end the season, huh? But how else would they do it? These ladies are like those girls in high school that spent every homecoming and Sadie Hawkins dance running around in packs stirring up rumors and drama instead of dancing with their dates in giant awkward friend circles like the rest of us. I wasn’t having it then, and I’m not having it now. Good riddance, Football Wives. We hardly knew ye (thank God).

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all? Well, we don't know yet. Now that Universal has found their huntsman in Michael Fassbender of Inglourious Basterds fame, and Charlize Theron is closing in on the evil queen role, the verdict’s still out on the young maiden who’ll play thedamsel in distress herself in Snow White and The Huntsman. I’m still heartbroken over the news that both Tom Hardy and Johnny Depp turned down the huntsman role, but alas the show must go on.
Word has it that Elvis Presley’s granddaughter and Dior model, Riley Keough, is testing for the role now. She and two of her The Runaways costars, Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning, have been considered for the coveted part. It’s starting to look like an affinity for 70s teen girl bands is a prerequisite for being considered for Snow White, but unlike her former costars, she’s got the right brand of story book looks for the fairest fairy tale heroine of them all.
Source: MTV

Is there anything that Neil Patrick Harris won’t host? It’s no surprise that everyone wants a piece of the actor – he’s charismatic, he’s charming, he’s funny, and more importantly he knows the best way to apologize for stealing someone’s car is by footing the bill for their $50 White Castle order. Perhaps that’s why the actor has signed on to host an awards show on Spike. (I’ll pause for your first reaction. Now take a deep breath.) Not only is it on Spike, but the show is the network’s Video Game Awards.
For someone who’s hosted the Tonys and the Emmys and even lent his voice to a Disneyland Resort rollercoaster, this gig may seem like a strange move, but let’s look at this a little bit closer. After his role as a straight, drugged out version of himself was so well-received in Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, NPH has garnered roles in both Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay and next year’s A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas and cemented himself a hero of stoner flicks. Now, if we use the transitive property (yup, I’m using math to make a point about celebrity appearances) we can assume that more than half of the people who love White Castle and movies about White Castle like video games and that same set of people love seeing Harris in movies about White Castle. Thus, that set of video-game loving, mini-burger eating, Harold and Kumar-watching dudes (and a few ladies) would be stoked to see Harris host the ultimate video game event of the year, right?
Then there’s the fact that while many of us may enjoy video games, a few hours of rewarding their virtual virtues sounds boring unless – and here’s the real genius of Spike’s host-casting decision – someone as universally appealing and utterly entertaining as Neil Patrick Harris was hosting. Don’t you feel better now that the world makes sense again?
Source: NY Mag

• Uh-oh Miley, what happened to your clothes? The singer and teen idol has some ‘splainin’ to do after nude pictures surfaced this morning on a Canadian blog. Supposedly, Cyrus sexted the photos which were stored on her allegedly stolen iPhone, but since they are clearly missing the tattoo she now has under her breast, it could be an underage pic of the now 18 year old star or it could be a fake. Either way, it's all a little fishy. Of course Miley claims it isn’t her, but after seeing her skanky leather birthday outfit that I can only guess was inspired by Christina Aguilera’s “Dirrrty” video, I wouldn’t put it past her. -The Daily News
• Darren Aronofsky really wants to see Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis make out again. After the ladies steamed up the screen in his latest flick, Black Swan, men everywhere thanked God for their good fortune. In an interview with MTV, Aronofsky made an appeal to make it happen all over again, saying he hoped the film would get an MTV movie award for “Best Kiss” so he could relive the glory of the infamous scene. He may be wildly talented, but he’s still a dude and no straight guy would turn down the chance to see those two make out...again. -MTV
• Britney Spears is sick and tired of all this talk about the audio tapes her former husband of less than a day has been leaking to gossip sites. The tapes condemn Brit’s boyfriend or fiancé (but who really cares) of beating her, but Brit’s not taking it, y’all. She fired back on her Twitter saying “PS – Star Magazine, Radar Online, Jason Alexander and the rest of you liars, Ya’ll can kiss my lily white southern Louisiana ass!” Don’t worry Brit, the tapes make you out to sound like a character from Gone With The Wind, so I don’t think anyone was actually buying it anyway. - E!
• Okay, now before I say anything, promise me you won’t panic. Justin Timberlake has been injured and he may never dance again….okay not really. He’s just injured and he’ll be totally fine. The star hurt his leg while filming a stunt on set for his upcoming sci-fi thriller, Now, but he returns to the set today so all is well. (The film where no one ages past 25 and hottie Olivia Wilde is playing his mother. Talk about mommy issues.) - Us
• Leave it to The Gosselins to ruin Christmas. Kate Gosselin’s darling gaggle of eight kids don’t believe in Santa Claus - their childhood has officially been stolen from them. Great job, John and Kate. But it’s not just their youths that are ruined; the kids have taken to sharing their joyless wisdom with schoolmates, telling them Santa doesn’t exist and “your parents have been lying to you.” This seizure of youthful delight has caused Jon a few headaches thanks to calls from angry parents deploring him to stop letting his cheerless children ruin Santa for everyone else. Most wonderful time of the year, eh? -Radar Online
• Last but not least, Tea Party politician Christine O’Donnell has used her star power to set a plan in motion to release a new drinking game. The game will be released by St. Martin’s Press will come in the form of a book chronicling her frustrations with everyone’s preoccupations about her views on masturbation and her admission about dabbling in witchcraft that factored into her eventual loss in the Senate race. Okay, so it’s not a drinking game per se, but that’s sure as hell what I’ll be using it for. -EW

S1: E8 Glee is all over the place, I can admit that. But that out-of-control style is kind of what makes the show great. It also means it missteps quite a bit, but at least it keeps things interesting. This week, the choir-fueled dramedy wears all the hats, switching from satire to seriousness to sentimental and back again with each scene and sometime within each scene. It didn’t work the entire time, but when Sue Sylvester combines the three it really works (no surprise there, Jane Lynch is the cornerstone of the show). We also enjoy (or endure in some at some moments) a Glee wedding when Kurt’s dad and Finn’s mom finally take that next step.
The episode starts with Burt and Carol’s huge news. They approach the boys in the hall at William McKinley High and Kurt is immediately giddy (he’s got half the wedding planned in his head before they even finish their sentence) but Finn looks like someone just punched him in the stomach. In his first act as self-appointed wedding planner, Kurt hires New Directions as the wedding band, which means only one thing: a Glee wedding. That does it, and Finn suddenly comes around to the idea. Really? That’s all it took, and now you’re suddenly cool? That kid is like a freaking light switch.
But wait, what’s this? Sue’s sending out invites for a wedding too? What’s that about? Flashback to a recording of Sue’s Corner where Sue’s ex-flame and the lead news anchor embarrasses her by announcing his engagement to the newsy hussy he cheated on Sue with. Naturally, Sue responded by getting on Match.com and finding her soul mate…herself. So she’s decided to marry herself a la that woman in Taiwan back in October. From the looks of her invite list, she’s inviting the president? I’d like to say I’m surprised, but that would be one big lie.
Meanwhile, Sam is getting close to that popularity crown he’s been reaching for, he’s close to recovering from his injury and regaining his Quarterback spot, but he’s missing one puzzle piece: he can’t get Quinn to be his girlfriend. So of course he gets Quinn a promise ring and says he’ll promise not to pressure her and he’ll promise to make her proud. Wow, all this for popularity? This isn’t Mean Girls last time I checked. Quinn thinks it’s sweet, but a bit much, so she says maybe. Smart girl, Sam’s whole thing is either crazy or desperate – I’m going with desperate.
Karofsky is still harassing Kurt. After threatening to kill him, he now just uses simple intimidation, but this drives Kurt to tears. Mr. Schue catches the aftermath and takes Kurt to Principal Sue. Sue says that since Karofsky didn’t actually get caught physically hurting Kurt, there’s nothing she or the school board can do legally. Finally, this issue is being addressed; the kid’s been bullying Kurt all season. Kurt almost lets the secret kiss slip to Sue because he wants her to understand the anger boiling within Karofsky about his hidden identity, but he stops himself. It seems like Sue maybe has a flash of understanding, and agrees to stop calling Kurt “Lady” instead opting to give him an option for a new one – he chooses “Porcelain.” He would choose the one that’s a complement about his perfect skin – he has a ritual, you know.
Rachel gathers the girlfriends of the Glee club need to enlist their football player boyfriends to make Karofsky leave Kurt alone. It needs to be done, but this kind of seemed more like an emergency D.A.R. meeting than a couple of high school girls throwing a plan together. Santana interrupts and is pissed she wasn’t included – she says she’s “dating” Puck. Hmm…if by dating she means hooking up with on a semi regular basis and occasionally dining and ditching at Breadstix then okay, they’re dating. We also learn that Brittany is official with Artie, and what’s this? Tina’s totally jealous. I guess Mike Chang’s abs can’t beat out simple high school jealousy.
As Sue plans her masturbatory wedding, her mother (Carol Burnett) shows up. She’s a professional Nazi hunter – yep you heard that right – but she’s back to set things right. Even so, she’s not doing so well so far. Being the famous Nazi-hunter she is, she left Sue and her sister when they were kids and regularly makes Sue feel awful with her constant criticism whenever she is around. She’s determined to make amends, but she hasn’t yet been to see Sue’s sister in the nursing home, and it seems her main concern is yelling at Sue about her life decisions. You’d think with a comic legend like Carol Burnett on the show, she’d actually be funny, but all she really does is act like a bitch.
The plan to protect Kurt is set into motion, but Finn tells Rachel he can’t do it, making some lame popularity-concerned excuse about how his interference would be worse for Kurt (but mainly for the football team’s winning streak). Are you really surprised? This is high school and popularity is king, plus Finn is so easily swayed. Don’t worry, he’ll swing back around; he always does. In the locker room, Artie and Mike tell Karofsky to stay away from Kurt, but he immediately throws out a few gay slurs about Kurt. Mike loses it and lunges at Karofsky, but the hulking dude throws Mike at Artie. Puck watches but does absolutely nothing (perhaps a result of Santana’s banishment from the girlfriend meeting). Finally, Sam swoops in to help Mike and Artie, but and he and Karofsky fight until Bieste comes in and separates them. Let’s be real though, Sam is teeny tiny. Karofsky is huge. He would have snapped that little blondie in half if this wasn’t a show about a show choir.
Back in the choir room, the girlfriends nurse their boyfriends’ battle wounds - all except Finn and it doesn’t go unnoticed. Rachel is completely disappointed as are the rest of the gleeks. Kurt thanks everyone for their support, and Schue does no reprimanding, but honestly, I wouldn’t have either. Karofsky’s being just plain awful, someone needed to do something.
Mama Sylvester’s attempt at motherly love is a song for Sue’s wedding. That’s when the unthinkable happens: Sue Sylvester sing (and not the talk-singing she did in the Madonna episode). Burnett and Lynch belt “Ohio” which facilitates a mother daughter spat about why Mama left and how Sue was affected by it. Mom and daughter embrace, but of course Mama Sylvester ruins it by being awful. She actually says she’s insisting on wearing white to Sue’s wedding because it suits her skin tone and tells Sue she can’t wear white because it looks awful on her. Seriously, this woman makes Sue look like Shirley Temple.
Kurt takes time after school to teach Finn and his dad to dance in the choir room. Finn is concerned that people will see him dancing with dudes, but that’s all shot when Karofsky walks by and makes fun of Kurt. Burt questions Kurt, who keeps hush about the kiss but admits that Karofsky threatened to kill him. Being the super protective father that he he is, Burt threatens Karofsky and lands everyone in a parent-teacher conference. Karofsky lies and says Kurt is making it up because he likes him (hello, bigotry) but neither kids’ dad is buying it. Principal Sue makes her first good move as principal and immediately expels Karofsky for the death threat. It’s not clear how or why, but for once, Sue really gets it.
At Burt and Carol’s wedding (whirlwind, ain’t it? They got engaged and married all in the same week, but I guess if you can’t wait, you can’t wait) Santana helps Finn with his tie and says he should tout his tryst with her so he can be popular, like Sam is trying to do by being Quinn’s boyfriend. Flashback to Rachel being excited that she and Finn will lose their virginity to each other - whoops. Because he loves Rachel, he decided to keep his secret. Shortly after, New Directions opens the wedding with a little show…hey, The Office already did that. If this is your way of getting back at their writers for the “'Blinded by the Light' with actual blind people” quip on the Glee party episode of The Office, it’s not working. Kurt’s dad and Finn’s mom dance to the alter as the gleeks sing “Marry You” (they really LOVE Bruno Mars, don’t they?). Kurt’s dad gives a tear-jerker of a speech about losing his late wife and finding Carol and she adds to it by talking about how Finn is becoming a brother to Kurt. Finn’s face is immediately covered in guilt; he knows he should have stood up for Kurt in the locker room.
Burt and Carol dance their first dance to Michael Bublé’s song “Sway” as interpreted by Mr. Schue, who manages to hog the spotlight. You’d think he could tone down his wild arm gestures for just a minute so people would spend their time looking at the happy couple and not him, but that’s Schue for you.
Then, Finn gives the best man speech, squeezing in a shout-out to his “awesome” mom but using the speech to talk about how he’s become Kurt’s brother (they’re now Furt, like Brangelina) and apologizes for not standing up for him. Apparently, he’s been feeling guilty for a while because he’s also prepared a performance of “Just the Way You Are” (yep, third Bruno Mars song this season) and serenaded a teary-eyed Kurt with the help of the other gleeks. Finn proudly waltzes with Kurt until his dad cuts in and finishes off the song by recycling its second half to win back Rachel’s affections, who’s clearly forgiven him for his former weaknesses. My only question, why didn’t Kurt bring Blaine as his date? When are they going to really date already?
At Sue’s wedding, Mama Sylvester tries to explain why she left to Sue’s sister, but something about the simplified language she has to use makes it a lot harder to paint an acceptable picture of her behavior. Sue finally weds herself clad in a track suit dress – what else? Finally, Sue confronts her mother and calls her out as a bully. So that’s why she understands Kurt’s issues. She kicks her mother out, and says all she needs is her sister. As much as I loved senselessly evil Sue, I’m actually enjoying the way they’re delving into her character because it’s not taking the snark out of her, it’s just giving it a new, more pointed direction. (And lucky for us, that direction still points toward Mr. Schue.)
Then it’s time for sewing up loose ends. Quinn breaks into Sam’s locker with a nail file and steals her promise ring, so naturally now they’re dating. Who knew the super devout blonde cheerleader would also have the ability to break and enter? (But it’s a nail file, so it’s still really feminine, no worries.) It’s clear that the cheerio wears the pants in that relationship.
Sue’s given Figgins his position back, and unfortunately, Karofsky’s expulsion is overturned. Sue says she can do more as a teacher that as principal and swears to patrol the halls so she can catch Karofsky in the act. Sue is not only hilarious, she’s also become a real human and she actually rocks in a non-comedy related way. But even with Sue’s vigilant promise, Kurt is still fearful of Karofsky’s return. He drops the bomb: he’s decided to transfer to the Dalton Academy because they have a zero-tolerance policy about bullying (are you listening American school boards and voters?). It was only a matter of time before his harsh reality pushed him away from William McKinley High. No one takes the news well, they all swear to protect Kurt day in and day out and of course, Rachel is only worried that he’ll be their competitor at sectionals. Ugh, pull your head out of your ass, mini-Babs. Unfortunately, she’s right to worry about the timing, sectionals are only a week away and they’re down one of their strongest singers.

S2:E9 I’m not sure how many times I can say “Guys, Community is so awesome,” but guys, Community is so awesome. I’m beginning to think I may sound a bit like a proud parent or maybe just a proud aunt, constantly touting the show’s successes, no matter how small, and finding the good in (almost) everything. It’s true, I love this show unconditionally, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that the creators have got the art of pop-culture parody down to a science. The “Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design” episode is a departure from the outlandish, grand zombie- space-simulator-Betty White fueled romps and a return to the formula that the show perfected back in season one. The show also keeps the childish wonder and the ensuing hilarity that Donald Glover’s Troy brings to it with a subplot in which he and Abed create a blanket-fort city that takes over an entire dorm. Say what you will about relying on formula, but Community’s formula is 100 percent its own and when it comes to this stuff, nobody does it better.
The episode opens on the study room where Annie’s got another diorama and Shirley’s got a quip about how her kids don’t do nearly as many dioramas as they do at Greendale. Someone needed to say it, we were all thinking it; after all this is the third cold open featuring a diorama. Are they in preschool? Britta turns down an invite from Abed and Troy because she’s too mature for their blanket-fort slumber party. What is she on? That sounds awesome. The Dean interrupts the group …again…this is starting to become a regular occurrence and I’m kind of starting to get tired of it. The Office can’t have Dwight with nun chucks in every cold open, and Community should stop overusing the Dean’s obnoxiousness as well (the good thing is that his involvement does eventually pay off...this time). It turns out that Jeff completely made up his own Independent Study course and instructor -- Professor Professorson. Jeff wants to keep his ruse going and says he’ll introduce the Dean to this Professorson guy.
Jeff leads Annie and the Dean to a supply closet and suddenly panics. Clearly, because his course is about conspiracy theories, Professor Professorson set the whole thing up to teach him a lesson. Just when Annie rolls her eyes (and reads my mind) and tells Jeff she’s not that stupid, a man walks around the corner and introduces himself as Professor Professorson. Despite never encountering the Dean, Professorson has his papers in order, brandishing his faculty I.D. as his cell phone rings with “DUH-DUH-DUH!” Get it? Because he’s so mysterious and creepy and doesn’t seem to exist? Just when Annie apologizes for doubting him, Jeff admits that he made up Professor Professorson and he has no idea who that man was. Annie is naturally concerned, but Jeff is oddly stoked (with a seriously creepy smile on his face). Annie is outraged that Jeff wants to blow off this odd coincidence and takes a moment to remind us all why we love her character as she “blows off” walking, then standing, then “speaking language” and writhes on the floor speaking in baby tongues. That girl is absolutely crazy and I love it.
Back in Abed’s dorm, the blanket-fort is complete but Troy thinks they might be too big for it. Solution? More pillows, higher ceilings: a pillow fort for MEN. Can I please be friends with these guys in real life? One of Abed’s nerdy friends interrupts their fort fest, and they pop their heads out long enough to hear his plea to join in the fun. But this is no child’s play, Abed and Troy very seriously insist that the new guy combine his blanket forces with theirs in order to participate. That’s how you make a man-fort.
Jeff runs into Annie in the library and she’s working her hardest to “Nancy Screw” Jeff out of his free class. (I have to admit I got way too much joy out of that Nancy Drew reference.) She’s done some sleuthing and she found that the mysterious Professor is actually Professor Wooley and does work at night school. But, he already had the Professorson I.D. so there is still a conspiracy at hand – and Jeff realizes he may actually have to do work for his fake class after all. Just then, Annie can’t start her diorama car, which is always the first sign of trouble in a conspiracy theory movie. Then, Jeff gets a call from an altered voice who warns him to keep his little friend away from night school. Jeff tackles Annie just as the toy car explodes…with tiny, little sparks. Tackle: unnecessary. He just wanted to get closer to Annie’s boobs, didn’t he?
Back in the dorm, Abed and Troy’s blanket fort has acquired more troops and fuzzy blankets and now extends through the halls. Jeff and Annie infiltrate night school to solve the mystery but when they get a hold of the class list, each listing is fake – classes like “Class 101” and “Learning!” They spot Professorson (or Wooley) and ask to audit his math class, but he darts down the hall, eventually finding his way to Abed and Troy’s fort which has become its own underground city with rules (no farting – a classic fort rule) and museums and districts and permits? Oh my. Troy and Abed lead Jeff and Annie through the blanket city to the Turkish district where they see Britta (not too big for forts now, eh?) before catching Wooley.
He takes them to a room full of papers and fax machines and tells them that night school isn’t real, he made it up. He started out like Jeff with just one fake class, and then he got so wrapped up in the lie he had to create other professors and students and classes until he had an entire school. Jeff feels something familiar, like someone is trying to teach him something – but he’s not just being cheesy, he’s onto something. Wooley keeps talking about unicorns and time-desks, and Jeff recognizes the Dean’s words. Plus, on the way over, Jeff passed the drama department, where he saw Wooley’s real name and title as head of the department. This sets Jeff off, he’s ready to show the Dean that Jeff Winger never learns.
Annie and Jeff hatch a plan using fake guns. They invite the Dean to the library where they’re holding “Professor Wooley” and turn him in to the Dean for fraud. Annie shoots Wooley with the fake gun saying he broke the rules, and the Dean pulls out a gun and shoots Annie. Jeff can’t believe the Dean shot Annie with a real gun, so he pulls out a gun and shoots the dean. Are you still with me? Annie immediately springs up, demanding an explanation. She says that she and the Dean worked together the whole time to teach Jeff a lesson – another layer of conspiracy, but wait there’s more. The Dean gets up – Jeff’s gun was also fake, just way more high-tech – and the plot thickens. It turns out Jeff realized the Dean was too dumb to plot against him so he called the Dean and asked for help to teach Annie a lesson about trust and friendship. But whoa, now Annie’s got a gun – but there were only three prop guns. Annie goes all crazy jilted lover on Jeff and shoots him three times, causing the Dean to switch teams again. With that, Jeff jumps up and they reveal the real plan (at least I hope) which was to show the Dean that he can’t keep switching allegiances or he’s not participating in a plot, he’s just doing “random crap.” There are some terrible conspiracy movies out there that could learn from this. But wait, there’s more. Really? Yes, really. A cop walks in and shoots the drama professor in the chest with a shotgun. But once again it’s just another plot to teach a lesson – this time about misusing prop guns. Okay, my head hurts now. Can we go back to Troy and Abed’s tent village?
That’s exactly what they do. Annie and Jeff continue their sexual tension and Abed receives news from the outside world. His fort hit the front page of the Greendale newspaper. With the news that they’ve gone mainstream, they have no other choice but to follow protocol – which apparently means destroying the fort village. Are you still going to try to say that forts are just for kids? (Okay they are, but that was awesome.)
Troy and Abed sign off by playing a word game making fun of pretty much every action movie ever. Of course this makes Troy think they should write a screenplay together. Ha, that I’d like to see.

Okay, we can all gripe about the times when SNL missteps and that happens quite a bit (case and point: this weekend’s Scarlett Johansson episode); but we can also accept that it’s a sketch show that’s always been on the cheesy side and has constantly distributed duds since its birth in the 70s . Plus, the real reason we all continue to watch the show is not for the amazing writing or the on-point sketches; the big draw has always been the opportunity to see our favorite stars make complete fools of themselves and sometimes reveal their hidden comedic genius (see: Justin Timberlake and Jon Hamm). In that spirit, let’s all ramp up the excitement for the latest additions to the SNL hosting roster: Paul Rudd, Robert De Niro, and Jeff Bridges. There’s no way you’re not at least a little stoked about this.
Now, your life will probably not be changed after watching these guys play dress-up on NBC’s long-running show, but you have to admit it’s got to at least be entertaining. Paul Rudd will be hosting once again, and his last stunt was pretty damn good. Plus, his episode will feature a double dose of Paul – his musical guest will be none other than Paul McCartney. (I may actually watch the musical performances for that one instead of seeing what’s happening on Adult Swim until the skits come back.)
Jeff Bridges will also be making his sophomore appearance to promote TRON: Legacy. Maybe they’ll do a mash-up of TRON and The Big Lebowski? You know the Dude running around with a white Russian and a bath robe in a video game world would be pretty awesome. But maybe that’s just like, my opinion, man.
Then of course, we’ve got Bobby De Niro. He’s already got two other hosting gigs under his belt, so he’s got it down at this point. I’m not exactly stoked about the film he’s promoting with the SNL appearance (Little Fockers…blah), but come on, it’s De Niro on a sketch show. It’s gonna be good, and even if it isn’t I’ll probably still say it is because I’m not going to lie, De Niro is someone you don’t want to mess with.
Source: EW